Page 142 of Dmitri

Kaleb’s heavy breaths rattle out of him. His nostrils flare. His hand trembles when he raises his gun to her. “Shut up.”

Gretchen laughs at him, just like I had. “Get that goddamngun out of my face, Kaleb.”

He pulls the motherfucking trigger.

???

Daelyn

“There she is.”

My heart swells at those three words, my memory buzzing like a little honeybee bouncing across a flower field, bringing me back to Dmitri. “I’ve never love-loved a woman in my life. I’ve never seen one and thought,There she is.”

“Dmitri?” Groggy and disoriented, I blink a few times and his face comes into view. Except he’s a lot thinner, and his hair is longer, and he’s got facial piercings. Fury quickly sobers me when I realize who this is. “Ace.”

“Wakey, wakey, Dae.” He slaps the side of my head, making it pound harder.

“Addie.”

“She’s been taken care of,” he spits out like she’s trash. “About fucking time, too. I was sick of babysitting her.”

Pure grief consumes me. Tremors takeover my body as a sob rips from my sore throat. “No.” Drool dribbles from my mouth and I can’t hold my head up. Sucking in a lungful of air, I scream and shake against my restraints. “No!”

“You did this to yourself,” Ace sneers. “You fucking sealed her coffin when you sold Kaleb out.” He holds a gun to my head and the look on his face is a mix of anger and resentment. “I should do us all a favor and blow your goddamn brains out right now.”

I wish he would.

The guilt of Addie’s death on my hands is unbearable.

She was all I had to live for.

And now she’sgone.

Ace has scratches all over his face and arms. She must have tried to fight him off.

“How could you do this to her?” I scream.

Casey’s holding me up, which I didn’t realize until now.

“I didn’t do this to Addie, Daelyn.Youdid,” Ace claps back.

Pop!A gun goes off somewhere in the warehouse we’re in.

“Shit.” Ace pulls away from me and looks up.

“Get the fuck away from her.” Kaleb marches down the steps with blood sprayed all over his face and chest.

Ace steps back and Casey lets me go, his hands raised in surrender.

The closer Kaleb gets, the more I shrink.Oh God. A familiar numbness creeps up my limbs and I welcome it. I detach completely. He can do whatever he wants to me, and I’d deserve it. No punishment would be severe enough for what I’ve caused Addie.

“The fuck?” Another of our crew steps up. “Kaleb, what did you—”

A bone-chilling scream tears out of Kaleb, and he spins around, firing off eight rounds, dropping our crew like flies. Then he storms straight towards me and raises his fist. “You stupid fucking cunt.”

He breaks my nose.

I don’t feel it.

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